Is Daenerys Targaryen Secretly A Bad Guy?

First thing’s first: I like Daenerys Targaryen. No, I do! I think she’s a fascinating character full of wit, passion, and ferocity. She has high ideals and really pretty hair. And Emilia Clarke plays her with a winsome mix of strength and sweetness. Overall, she’s a great protagonist for a morally murky HBO drama about rich people killing their way to the top. However, I’m beginning to wonder if she really is a good queen — nevermind a good person. So I have to ask: Is Daenerys Targaryen secretly a bad guy?

At first glance, I can see why this question might be crazy. It’s not like she’s Ramsay Bolton. She’s not torturing people for fun or feeding dead loved ones to the dogs. Nor does she possess the shrewish selfishness of one Cersei Lannister. Daenerys is kind to her closest allies and empathetic to the needs of the weak. She is defiant in the face of tyranny and emphatically against slavery. These are all good things.

She is, however, also a deviously cruel strategist and eternal opportunist. She has amassed her armies through means of seduction, intimidation, and trickery. She conquered the Dothraki by winning Khal Drogo. She won the Unsullied in a (beautifully) vindictive double cross. When she conquered Meereen, she stomped out its slave-based culture (and tore down their religious icons) because she felt like her way was the right way. To the people of the East, she is a character in the mold of Ghenghis Khan or Alexander the Great. She is a great and terrible leader who is spreading bloodshed and pain in their path. Entire civilizations have been burned at their whim. And her all-consuming desire to rule Westeros? She’s not particularly fussed about the rights of the smallfolk or worried about the impending frozen hell creeping its way from the North. She wants that Iron Throne because it’s her birthright. It’s hers, gosh darn it! Woe to the men and women who stand in her path.

That’s not a recipe for a good ruler; That’s a recipe for a good tyrant.

Game of Thrones is masterful at presenting characters who live in the grey areas of the moral spectrum. No one is totally good or totally bad — and those who are find themselves killed off. So why have we been so quick to rally to Daenerys’ cause? Well, probably because the show has been loathe to present her as anything other than a charming underdog with mystical powers destined to save Westeros. I mean, those types of people are usually quite likable. Plus, we haven’t really gotten a chance to get to know the people she’s (often literally) burned. They’ve been depicted as two-dimensional villains, two-faced schemers, and backwards-thinking haters committed to enslaving people. They don’t deserve pity; They deserve to be conquered! The problem here is that they actually are all people and while their values might be abhorrent to Daenerys, you can’t course correct an entire culture with a couple of decrees and a bit of gusto. Hence why Daenerys kind of deserves the wrath of the Sons of the Harpy. Conquering a city is easy — making people love you after you’ve conquered them is hard.

So why do we still love Daenerys in spite of her flawed leadership skills? Because she started from the bottom and worked her way up. When we met her, she was a pawn, a slave, and a victim. The first episode sees her bartered like cattle and raped in front of a sunset. She’s a shivering little girl who’s been denied a voice. Since then, we’ve seen her assert herself as the ruler she is. It’s fascinating and glorious and exciting! Oh, yes, and she has dragons.

Daenerys is not yet a good ruler, but her greatest asset is she is willing to learn. She does not want to be a tyrant. In fact, that’s usually how her makeshift small council gets through to her. They appraise her actions from the points of view of her detractors. They compare her fairly — and unfavorably — to her father. She is willing to listen to reason from Tyrion, Daario, Ser Barristan, and Missandei. She may not always agree, but she allows them to offer her an alternative point of view. The difference between Daenerys and other tyrannical rulers is that she wants to improve.

So, no, Daenerys isn’t a bad guy, but she could easily become one if she’s not careful. But wouldn’t that be interesting? If after her entire journey she doesn’t become Westeros’ savior, but its undoing?